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Larry Tee

Nowadays you host Disgraceland at Crowbar. Beforehand you had Berliniamsburg. Why was there a need to close down Berliniamsburg and start anew? What’s the difference between both club nights?

Well, Berliniamsburg ran for two years and they were gorgeous electro-punky years. But in NYC, you get a year or so of cool and then the nights change. It is good to keep locations changing and the sounds changing because otherwise they get stale and predictable. The crowd that comes to Disgraceland is more mixed and less hipster-y than the Brooklyn party, largely I assume because the location.

On your website it says that Berliniamsburg was a reaction to all the stale club music that was ubiquitous in Manhattan at the time like house, trance, rock n roll oldies. How come electro isn’t considered stale when so much of it is influenced by ’80s synth pop?

Certainly all music is inspired by earlier music… i.e. house was related to disco… The new electro sounds that I championed had a very different sound quality and lyrical language than the first wave. More distortion and more modern subjects and performance. I don’t really play much of the early electro because i am not an archivist.

A lot of the time you have W.I.T. in tow when you go on tour. I’ve heard their debut album a few times and they’ve just never grown on me. Besides the fact that they’re really hot and have pretty voices I just don’t see the appeal. You created W.I.T. - what is it that I’m not getting?

In the old days of new wave there was the avant garde group The Fall and there was Bananarama. Each had their purpose and each had their appeal. Some people liked the Fall, some people like the pop of Bananarama, and some people liked both. I played both the fun/trashy music AND the artsy/nutritious music. Trying to read more into WIT as though they were to be compared to Peaches or Chicks is comparing apples and oranges. I never got to see a sexy live girl group back in the day, though I am sure they did shows. I thought they were funny

and cute. AND smart. They no longer exist, unfortunately.

The lead singer of W.I.T. was/is a model. Was she the inspiration for Supermodel, Inc.?

No, I wrote that years before I met Melissa. I wrote the original hit

“Supermodel(You better Work)” for a drag queen Rupaul and it became the #1 dance song of 1993 in Billboard Magazine. They included it on the Lizzie Maguire soundtrack this year earning me my first double platinum record. For a tranny anthem!!??!! You better Work, right?

Mogul Electro, your electro label, is part of a larger company of yours, Love Machine

Music Inc. What other music and artists do you promote?

I am the only Mogul Electro artist. I do compilations because I like to hear new bands and artists. On my new solo album coming out early next year I have guest appearances, by Princess Superstar, Andy Bell of Erasure, and a five year old girl named Amanita with lots of new producers and vocalists. It is my calling to introduce people to new artists.

Lady Kier has been touring with you as of late. How long have you been working together? Is she your opening act? Please don’t tell me she plays ‘Groove is in the Heart during each set.

We would be so lucky is she played ‘Groove’. Don’t you agree it is divine? She doesn’t though. I have done about six gigs with her but I don’t think the upcoming Vancouver date is one, unfortunately. And I could only open for her. She’s such a goddess.

For some reason I can’t picture you playing in Ibiza (unless, perhaps, it was for a Har Mar party at Manumission) even though Felix da Housecat, DJ Hell and Miss Kittin, etc. do on a semi-regular basis. Am I off?

No, I have a great bathing suit all packed for Ibiza. My set now is ready for Ibiza and I almost got to do it this year. Do you think I still play teeth grinding chatter-clash that I played in a small experimental club in NYC three years ago? The point has been made and I have moved on to dirty distortion disco. In 77 it was Donna Summer, in 80 it was Joy Division, in 85 it was Yazoo, in 88 it was Run DMC, In 90 it was Jack Your Body, in 93 it was KLF, in 98 Sneaker pimps, in 2001 Electroclash. This is 2004 and we have to select music that works for this moment only.

Some would say that DJ Hell is your European counterpart as he also runs a very important label, has hosted his own club night (Club Villa) and parties and is (surprise!) a DJ as well. Also, both of you have been around in the scene for a good while now. Would you agree that the two of you have similar roles?

We both support a lot of new artists and have had similar tastes from time to time. But we are very different personalities.

Have you ever worked with DJ Gigolo Records?

I have never been associated with Gigolo but I have introduced a couple acts to DJ Hell.

When I was in Barcelona (summer 2003) I was amused that at a regular club I’d see the majority of the girls wearing ‘electro clothes and when I went to clubs that played predominantly electro there was a significantly smaller number of chicks wearing ‘electro clothes. Since grunge I haven’t seen any other genre of music so widely marketed. Is it because off the shoulder tops and fishnets are sexy or is there something else that makes it so pop?

What music doesn’t have a dress code. Franz Ferdinand, The Strokes, Richie Hawtin, DMX? I think fashion is fun and disposable but the main thing about the fashion that I was aware of with the groups I supported, was how un-uniform it was. People really expressed themselves very differently from one another and that to me is exciting. Peaches didn’t dress like Fischerspooner didn’t dress like Ladytron didn’t dress like Felix didn’t dress like The Scissor Sisters.

I truly think the world is a better place now that electro is here. It brings out the kid in everyone, you see the dance floor full of people goofing off and laughing and really dancing. Do you think all this horseplay at the disco will make us less pretentious and more easygoing?

I love a club that is fun and the patrons enthusiastically take part in making it special. Electro clubs DO tend to be more fun. AND much sexier than clubs filled with worker drones, strippers, and bouncers.

You can’t refute the fact that a lot of electro is influenced by the music of the ’80s. I think your current president still hadn’t found God at that time so he is probably well-versed in extreme decadence and music of that era. Do you think he’d get a kick out of electro?

Our president George W. Bush would not like electro. That I am sure.

What are my chances of getting hired by you? Do you think Fischerspooner could do with a female Peanuts?

There is a very good chance you are working for me already according to these very informed questions. And yes, I think Fischerspooner could definitely use a female Peanuts. You should apply.

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